Hansard

There is indeed a presumption against short-term sentencing in Scotland. This Government took that very decisive action. I know that that has had success, in that the proportion of sentences that are short term has reduced by 10 percentage points, but there is still a high use of short-term sentences in this country. Therefore, it is incumbent on me, not to act as judge or jury, but to do everything that I can—which I am doing, and will continue to do, through investment—to continue the increase that we are seeing in community payback orders. Ultimately, I believe in accountability and in reparation as much as I believe in rehabilitation.

We know that prison can, by its very nature, disrupt the factors that can help to prevent offending. Imprisonment can have damaging effects through the breakdown of family relationships, cause housing instability and homelessness, negatively impact on employability and lead to job losses, and weaken other societal ties and support networks.

I urge members to be willing to think differently and progressively about community-based sentences and to acknowledge their clear benefits to our society. The evidence tells us that those sentences are more effective than short prison sentences at addressing underlying causes of offending behaviour and, ultimately, at breaking the cycle of reoffending. Yet, so often, those sentences are referred to as soft justice. Among all of us in Parliament, there needs to be a shift in our mindset that prison is the only effective punishment for people who commit offences.

Last year, I indicated that I would establish an independent review of sentencing and penal policy. I inform Parliament today that we have established the commission to conduct that review.

I am pleased to announce that Martyn Evans, the former chair of the Scottish Police Authority, has agreed to chair the review. In addition to his work at the SPA, he has a wide range of experience in the voluntary and public sectors and has chaired successful commissions and inquiries across the United Kingdom and Ireland. He will bring the same level of dedication, professionalism and expertise to the review as he has done to his past work.

Mr Evans will be ably supported in that by five members of the commission, who collectively bring a great deal of expertise and experience to the table. They are Catherine Dyer, CBE, chair of the board of Community Justice Scotland; Dr Hannah Graham, senior lecturer in criminology at the University of Stirling; the Labour Minister for Justice between 2003 and 2007, Cathy Jamieson; Sheriff David Mackie; and Lynsey Smith, chair of Social Work Scotland’s justice standing committee. I am grateful to them all for taking on this significant and vital task.

The review will consider how imprisonment and community-based interventions are currently used and how changes to that use might contribute to our having a sustainable prison population. I have asked the commission to focus initially on community sentencing, bail, and remand and release from custody. I have also asked it to provide detailed and actionable recommendations for improvements by the end of the year, with an interim report in autumn. In carrying out its work, the commission will engage with stakeholders, victims and those with experience of the justice system on how best to respect and protect the interests of victims, while maintaining the rights of those who are accused of crime.

It is clear to me that there is scope for the review to set out a transformative approach to sentencing and penal policy, and I ask that members in other parties engage with and support that process. As we all know, Scotland has one of the highest uses of custody in western Europe, but there is nothing intrinsic about our country that means that it should not and could not have a penal policy that stops us being an outlier.

Although we cannot import our solutions wholesale from elsewhere, we can learn from what other countries have done differently to reverse the trend of a growing prison population. Countries such as Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands have made long-term investments in non-custodial options. Finland introduced tighter regulations on the available sentence range. More individuals have been kept out of prison entirely through alternatives such as suspended sentences, electronic monitoring or fines in countries such as Germany and the Netherlands. Sweden and a number of US states are focusing on rehabilitation, drug treatment and housing support.

The international evidence tells us that a whole-system approach is required, not just for the criminal justice agencies but for health and welfare partners. To achieve that, we need strong political support and cross-party consensus, building on a shared recognition of the challenges and the commitment to solutions.

We have taken many steps to ensure that we have a sustainable prison population and we will continue to do so. The Scottish Prison Service has taken steps to optimise the use of home detention curfew. We took the difficult but necessary step of emergency early release. The Prisoners (Early Release) (Scotland) Act 2025 came into force last week and brings a new release point for most prisoners serving short-term sentences of less than four years. In 2024-25, we increased further the funding for community justice further by £14 million to £148 million in total. I confirm to Parliament that the new bail test and the Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Act 2023 will come into force on 14 May 2025. The reforms to the bail law recognise the negative impact of short periods of imprisonment while ensuring that public and victim safety are at the heart of the court’s decision making.

The Government has shown a clear commitment to strengthening alternatives to custody and ensuring that imprisonment is used only when appropriate by taking decisive action such as introducing electronic monitoring for bail and community payback orders, introducing the presumption against short prison sentences and removing all our children from prisons. However, significant and sustained progress in that area is not readily or easily achieved. It involves balancing urgent responses with long-term societal and cultural change while respecting the operational independence of our justice partners.

It is clear to me that this is the time for us to be bold as a society and rethink our attitude to how we deliver justice and reduce offending. We have the opportunity to think differently, strategically and over the long term about how we achieve the goals that, ultimately, all members share: less crime, fewer victims and safer communities.

I move,

That the Parliament notes that Scotland has one of the highest proportions of prisoners in Western Europe; recognises the action that has been taken to establish a sustainable prison population and shift the balance between the use of custody and justice in the community, while protecting the public from harm; acknowledges the need for an independent review of sentencing and penal policy to consider how imprisonment and community interventions are used; further acknowledges the key role that the third sector can play in the effective delivery of justice services that reduce reoffending, and support rehabilitation and reintegration into society; agrees that there is a need for strong partnership working and co-ordination between third sector organisations, justice social work and the Scottish Prison Service to provide support and improve outcomes for those leaving prison, and believes that the Parliament has an important role to play in discussing the use of imprisonment and the best means for addressing offending behaviour, by both effective prevention and appropriate rehabilitation, and for reducing crime and keeping communities safe.